PENPALS
By: Dreamer
CHAPTER 1
Jason Clark sat on his bed in his room, waiting patiently for a screech owl to appear at his window. For four years Jason has been attending Grawshots American Academy of Magic.
He heard wings flapping outside his window. But instead of seeing a large screech owl he sees a small snowy owl. He recognized it as Moonlight, one of his best friend's owl. He took the letter out of Moonlight's mouth, and opened it.
Dear J,
Did you get your letter from school yet? One of the school's screech
owls came this morning. Any way let me know when you are going to
go to shopping for school supplies so I can meet up with you Bobby
and Nyomi. Guess what I found out? We have a sister school in England.
It's called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And do you know
what else? All the fifth, sixth, and seventh years get pen pals from that school!
I can't wait! Anyway see you when we're shopping!
Your friend,
Cleo Moondust
He wrote a brief message back to Cleo about when he was going shopping and about the pen pals. He really thought the idea of a pen pal sounded awesome.
As soon as he sent Moonlight of on her way back to Cleo's two more owls showed up at his windowsill, a large screech owl (from the school), and a barn owl carrying two letters.
He took the letter from the screech owl's mouth and it flew away. He didn't open it at first because he pretty much knew what it said. So instead he opened the two letters from the barn owl. They were from his two other best friends, Bobby Sinistra and Nyomi Carter. Nyomi and Bobby live next store to each other so when they send letters to him and Cleo they usually use the same owl. He read both the letters and they were very similar to Cleo's letter. He sent his replies back to Nyomi and Bobby and lied down on his bed and opened the Grawshots' letter.
GRAWSHOTS AMERICAN ACADEMY OF MAGIC
Mr. Clark-
We would like to inform you that the school year of 2000-2001 will be starting on
September 1st as usual. You shall report to Gate 11 ½ at 9:00 am sharp.
The plane will reach Grawshots at 4:00 pm. seeing you are not a first year
You will go directly to your house to unpack. A prefect will be happy to give
You the password. The feast and the sorting will take place at 6:30 pm.
We are also doing a special program for fifth years and up. Grawshots' sister
School, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, will be your pen pals for
This year. You will be receiving your first letter from a Hogwarts' student a week
After classes start. We thank you and will be looking forward to seeing you!
Sincerely,
Carla Thomas
Carla Thomas
Dean of Grawshots
Jason had just started going though the list of supplies when his mother called, "J, honey dinnertime!"
Jason went downstairs and found his mom putting chicken fajitas on the table. Chicken fajitas were Jason's most favorite food in the world.
"Mom, I just got my letter Grawshots, and guess what?"
"What?" she asked as she grabbed a fajita off the center plate
.
"We get to have pen pals! They are students from our sister school in England! Isn't that cool?"
"Yeah that's awesome J!" she said giving him a high five, "but won't that wear the owls out?"
Jason hadn't thought of that. "They probably have special owls, I mean, come on this is Dean Carla we're talking about!"
His mom smiled. "Your probably right knowing Dean Carla."
The head of Jason's school has always been clever and tricky. That is probably why most of the students like her.
After dinner Jason cleared the table and placed two bowls, two spoons, and a box of Cookie Dough ice cream on the table. Cookie Dough has always been him and his mom's favorite ice cream.
As Jason was scooping in large spoonfuls of ice cream into his bowl, his mom asked, "So, do you want you pen pal to be a boy or a girl?"
He was half surprised his mom asked this but he replied, "Well six of one half a dozen of the other. You know? Because I'd like to have a boy so we could talk about guys stuff and girls. But I'd also like to have a girl so maybe then I can get a girlfriend!"
Jason was 15 and has never had a "real" girlfriend. He already had his first kiss though. You see, when Cleo and Jason were five or six years old, (before they met Bobby and Nyomi), they used to go around holding hands and telling people that they were married to anyone that would listen. Jason smiled to himself. He did that every time he thought of that.
"Your buddies know we're going shopping for school stuff tomorrow right?" his mother asked. Jason nodded he had a mouth full of ice cream. He couldn't wait to see his friends again.
Harry woke up and looked at the clock. 8:49. He got up out of bed got dressed and went across the hall and knocked on Hermione's door. Harry had been staying at the Granger's house since a few days before his birthday. For the first time in his life Harry had a birthday party. It was closer to the school year now and Harry and Hermione were going to meet Ron in Diagon Alley today. A voice came from inside the room.
"Come in" it was Hermione's. When he opened the door he saw Hermione was sitting at her computer playing a game.
"Hey, can we get going, I really want to talk to somebody about something." He asked
Hermione exited out of the game and turned around in her chair. "What am I? A bag of potato chips?" She looked kind of hurt.
"Well it's a guy thing if you know what I mean," he said.
"Harry I have 5 boy cousins. All older then you, I think I can handle it."
"Alright so got any plans about how to get Cho to notice me?"
Hermione looked at him and said, "OK let's go!" Harry smiled to himself.
They walked downstairs and found Hermione's older sister lying on couch watching TV. She turned around when she saw them coming down the stairs. "Well," she said, "If it isn't my baby sister and her boyfriend."
"Oh can it" Hermione said. "AND for the millionth time I told you already Harry and Ron are JUST friends!"
She smirked and said, "Oh, don't take me wrong I COMPLETELY believe you about Ron."
"Don't mind her she's just jealous 'cuz I'm a witch and she's not!" Hermione said loudly so her sister could hear.
They quickly ate breakfast and started walking towards the Leaky Cauldron.
Jason woke up to his mom banging on the ceiling yelling "JASON!!! GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF BED I WANT TO LEAVE HERE IN TEN MINUTES!!!"
Jason quickly got dressed and downed his cereal. They jumped in the car and started heading towards Cleo's house. Cleo lived far enough away from Jason that she never saw him but close enough so his mom could pick her up to take her to the airport and to go shopping.
They pulled into her driveway and honked the horn. They didn't try to get inside. Cleo had six brothers and they were all younger than her so getting around her house is a major accomplishment. After a few seconds they saw a girl stick her head out the window on the side of the house. She had about shoulder length brown hair with violet eyes. It was Cleo.
"I'll be down in a sec!" she called. Jason and his mom knew from experience that in this house a "sec" is a few minutes. Cleo finally comes out the front door and gets in the car and sits next to Jason. "Sorry, Zac and Todd were in a huge fight and I literally had to jump over the two of them to get out." Cleo explained.
"That's ok Cleo." Jason's mom said, "And honestly I have NO idea how your mother keeps her sanity!" She said and pulled out of the driveway. They were heading towards an abandoned Friendly's restaurant. Because inside is the entrance to Magical Road where all of the magic stores are.
Jason and Cleo stepped threw the old girl's bathroom and are warped to Magical Road (closely followed by Jason's mother). They find a seat at one the outside tables at the restaurant in Magical Road and sit down. About two seconds later, they here a boy and a girl calling to them.
"JJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CLEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" They see their two friends Nyomi and Bobby coming up to them. "Hey guys how was you summer?" asked Bobby.
"Pretty cool" Jason answered. Cleo nodded in agreement.
"Where are your mothers?" Jason's mom asked politely.
"Oh, in the bookstore" Nyomi replied. Jason's mom nodded and headed in the direction of the bookstore.
"Have you guys gotten all of your school stuff yet?" Cleo asked.
"Nope" said Bobby shaking his head. "We were waiting for you guys."
They got into a discussion on how they weren't allowed to have some of the stuff they had last year. But quite quickly, as Jason suspected, they turned to the subject of the pen pals.
"Personally I want a boy, AND he has to be cute." Nyomi said.
"C'mon Ny, almost all guys with British accents are cute!!" Cleo replied with a laugh.
Bobby and Jason figured that since the girls were talking about which accent was the sexiest, they would do they're school shopping.
"I am SO glad we don't have to buy our books this year!" said Bobby.
Jason nodded as they were getting new robes. "Hello!!! Earth to J!! You're so quiet what's up?"
"Oh Nothing, I just was never good at writing letters and we have to write 'em to some British stranger! I mean at first I was exited but now I don't know" replied Jason.
"Hey maybe if ya get a girl she'll be into you"
"Yeah that'll be the day, Bobby if you remember I wasn't blessed with the same luck with girls as you."
"I know it's a lovely gift isn't it!" Bobby said and laughed as they walk back to where they had left the girls.
"Ok, where do you guys wanna go first? I wanna go to Florish and Blotts." Hermione asked.
"Hermione, I think we should go to Florish and Blotts last that way we can spend more time there." Harry said. Hemione nodded.
"I know where we should go," said Ron, "we should go to the pet store to buy me another rat for Crookshanks to eat!"
"Oh for God's sakes Ron will you drop that already!!!"
"Give me one good reason too"
"Well, let's see, it was two years ago, Crookshanks was just acting like a normal cat, Scabbers wasn't even a real rat, and—"
"I said one!" Ron shouted
"Well honestly you should quit acting like such an as---"
"THAT"S ENOUGH!!!!"
Ron and Hermione both looked at Harry is surprise. "Ok, sorry but I'm sick of listening to the two of you arguing all day!"
"We're sorry Harry but for a minute there you sounded just like my mum" Hermione said and started laughing.
"Yeah I know" Ron said and started laughing too.
"Ok great it's either them arguing all day or them making fun of me! I'll see ya."
"Harry come on we're sorry wait up!"
Jason, Cleo, Nyomi, and Bobby were standing near gate 11 ½. They were waiting to get on the plane to take them to Grawshots. They saw kids all around them that looked familiar. Teresa and Luis their friends who were twins and Puerto Rican were standing by the window. Marta, a fourth year who had a crush on Jason, was also standing by the window. Brandon, Nyomi's ex-boyfriend was standing in a corner.
A women over the intercom said, "Students of Grawshots, please start loading the plane, it will be leaving shortly"
Jason hugged his mom and boarded the plane with everyone else. From the air the plane looks like a regular muggle plane, small, tiny, and cramped. But it really wasn't. It didn't have couch and first class. But some people acted like it did. Like Robert Bind, Paul Richards, and Natasha Slate. They all came from extremely rich families and all had a grudge against Jason and his friends ever since they met in their first year at school. They had met on the plane and Paul had asked them if the were purebloods. Jason, Nyomi, and Bobby all told them yes but Cleo was a half blood. That is when they started dissing them and being rude.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the geek coral." Said a tall black girl with long braided hair. "Guys I found the dorks!"
"Oh, shut up Natasha. You wouldn't know a good insult if it hit you in the face with a baseball glove!" Cleo said. She had always been good at insults and comebacks.
"Zip it Mudblood, I don't want to here about any of your crappy muggle sports! The only sport I care about is Quidditch. If your Mudblood brain can't remember I'm the captain AND seeker of the Slycerin House Quidditch team."
"Well if your no-brain can't remember I'm the captain AND seeker of the Growlyn House Quidditch team and we whoop your butt every year!" Jason yelled.
"Natasha come on let's go sit down we don't need to waste our breathe on people like this." Said Robert as they walked to their normal room.
"I swear, one day I'm just going to snap and kill her!!" Cleo said pounding her fist into her hand.
"Really we'll help!" answered Bobby with Jason and Nyomi nodding.
The Hogwarts Express pulled up to Hogwarts exactly on time, according to Hermione. They saw Hagrid preparing the canoes for the first years. They got off the train, said hi to Hagrid, and climbed into a carriage to take them to the front doors.
"I can't believe Malfoy did that!!" Hermione screamed still squeezing out her hair. Earlier on the train Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle snuck up behind Hemione and dumped 3 buckets of cold water on her.
You can't?? Really?? Well I can!" Ron said obviously still angry with them.
"Guys we'll deal with it later I want to be able to see the sorting." Said Harry which silenced Hermione and left Ron cursing about Malfoy.
Professor McGonnagaul add just explained the whole pen pal deal to the Gryffindors and were handing out the names on their pen pals. She was handing them out in alphabetical order so Hermione got hers first.
"Open it I wanna see who ya got" Ron encouraged as Hemione slowly unfolded the paper.
"Oh cool!! I got a boy. His name is Jason Clark. He is 15 and in Growlyn house. He is the captain and seeker of his house Quidditch team. Sounds almost just like you Harry!"
"Ok that is freaky" said Harry.
"Mr. Potter" Professor McGonnagaul shouted. Harry got up and got his envelope and came and sat down.
"Let's see I got a girl. Cleo Moondust she's 15 and in Growlyn. Keeper on her house Quidditch team."
"All three Weasley's please come up" Ron fallowed Fred and George up to get his envelope.
"I got a boy. Bobby Sinistra. Beater on Quidditch team and in Growlyn. I wonder if our three pen pals are friends I mean they are all in Growlyn."
"There is a possibility well I'm going to go get started on my letter and unpack night guys" Hermione called as she headed up the stairs to her dorm.
------uuu--*0*--uuu------
Owls pecking at them waked Jason and Bobby. Jason quickly remembered why there would be owls there this early in the morning. Classes had started last week. It was a letter from their Hogwarts pen pals. He noticed Bobby was already reading his so he started reading his too.
Dear Jason,
Hi! My name is Hermione Granger. I am a girl if you didn't
know. This may sound paranoid but it is pronounced Her-
my-o-nie. I kind of have this thing about my name. My two
best friends names are Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. Don't
think I'm bragging but I just wanted to let you I'm at the top of all
my classes and a prefect so if you need help with any homework
let me know. I like Quidditch. Kind of. I go to watch the house
matches (my friend Harry is the seeker for my house) but I don't
really like to talk about it. I have one sister. Both my parents are
muggles as well as my sister. I really have nothing else to say.
Write back,
Hermione ^_^
"Who'd ya get?" Bobby asked who obviously had read his letter more than once.
"Girl, her name is Hermione Granger, who'd you get?"
"Guy, Ron Weasley, sounds like Cleo got 5 brothers one sister. Cool huh?"
"Yeah I guess"
All day, during classes, during meals, and during study hall, all Bobby, Nyomi, Cleo, and Jason talked about was their pen pals. Cleo had gotten a boy named Harry Potter. Nyomi had gotten a girl named Lavender Brown. Suddenly it hit Jason.
"Omigosh!!!"
"What is it J?" Cleo asked. She looked as though she had seen an alien.
"My pen pal, Hermione, said her best friends names were Ron Weasley and Harry Potter!"
That's my pen pal!" Bobby and Cleo said in unison.
"Oh I feel left out!" Nyomi said.